The Past is a Grotesque Animal
by dudugodudugo
Summary: Potter and Weasley have trouble naming their second child: a quick glance into the original epilogue. Snarry, sort of.


**AN:**

**This is a one-shot.**

"Are you going to name this one as well?" Ginny demanded, sounding a bit peeved. Harry ignored her.

"I've already got a name picked out," he admitted, glancing at his wife as she lay on the hospital bed, sweaty and tired. Her face pulled back with a scowl, and then it was gone. She heaved her shoulders and moodily turned over.

"Well, let's hear it," she said neutrally, as if she'd rehearsed this bit. "If this is how you want to handle the war, by naming our children after dead people, then fine. That's fine. Who will it be this time? Fred?" she asked hopefully. "Tonks?"

Harry sighed. "Nymphadora is a girl's name," he pointed out. "I was thinking... Albus Potter. What do you think?"

He couldn't see his wife's face, but he could hear her sigh.

"Are you mad I didn't pick Fred's name?" he asked quietly.

"That can be the middle name," he heard Ginny say hopefully. It sounded like a question. Harry stared at the back of her head.

"Actually..."

Would he tell her this time?

Yes. God only knew how many more opportunities he had at this. "I was thinking... Severus. As the middle name."

"You're joking!" Ginny turned over. "You're honestly joking, aren't you?" she demanded.

"Er, no. I'm serious."

"SNAPE? We're going to name our child after SNAPE?" she hissed.

"He was a great man!"

"And you never let us forget that, do you!" she yelled. Harry winced. "I am tired," she whispered, "of that name. I am so tired of hearing it, Harry Potter. I don't hear you talking about Fred's sacrifice, or Lupin's sacrifice, half as much as that bloody git!"

"I'm sorry, Ginny," he said hollowly. It wasn't enough.

"Don't you think I want to name my children after people I loved? Don't you think that I," she growled, wiping away angry tears, "have the right to name my child after my dead brother? Snape! Snape! Couldn't you think of anyone better?"

"No, Ginny," he hissed. "I can't. Severus Snape was-"

"The bravest man you've ever known," Ginny finished, choking on her words. "I hear it every day, Harry!"

"He sacrificed the most!" Harry said fiercely. "He gave more than anyone! Even your brother, Ginny! Even Fred! And a lot more than Lupin, you can count on that! Whoever sacrifices the most, deserves the most, and I plan to name my fucking child after the person who won us the war!"

Ginny glared at him, not even bothering to wipe away her snot and tears. Harry glared back.

"Don't you ever talk about your family like that," she finally said, her voice hard as steel.

"Who's my family, Ginny?" he couldn't stop himself from ranting. "The people who love YOU? Who care about YOU? They don't care about anything I care about! They're just people I grew up with, thanks to you, Ginny! I know them only through you!"

"That's not true and you know it. You fucking hypocrite," Ginny shouted. "They've always loved you!"

"They don't care about my work! Or my friends, or anything real about me!" Alright, now he sounded like an ass. Harry ran a hand through his hair. "I- They don't..."

"They don't care about this strange obsession you have with potions! Or Draco bloody Malfoy! Please, tell me why that is so bad," Ginny pleaded, sounding soft and vulnerable. "Everyone can see that you have this peculiar, perverse fascination with a dead man! Tell me how that is alright? You aren't even Harry Potter anymore!"

That pissed him off. "If I wanted to be Harry Potter," he said dangerously, pointing an angry finger at the door, "I'd just walk ten feet into the hallway! I'd have been an Auror! I'd have done everything that everyone wanted me to do!"

"What are you saying, Harry? That marrying me was an obligation?" This time, her tears were fresh.

"No!" he said desperately. It sounded like a lie even to his own ears. "That's not what I'm saying, Ginny! Can't you at least listen, for once in-"

"GET OUT!" she screamed. "GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

"FINE!"

He stormed out of the hospital room, slamming the door as hard as he could. God... He scrubbed his face with his hands.

"Mr. Potter?"

In front of him, a nurse held up a clipboard. Harry dropped his hands and took it. "Write down the name here, Mr. Potter," she said kindly, "and then I can take you to see your child."

He wrote Albus Severus Potter. He didn't hesitate.

x.x.x.

The divorce was quick, and final.

Harry stared out the window, at the trees slowly turning colour and the grass in the garden, brown from dehydration. He hadn't lived in Grimmauld Place since he was a teenager. It stank of mold and wet dog.

"Albus Severus Potter," Harry said quietly. The name shivered on his lips. His greatest error.

He'd lost his children to that name. And his wife.

"Severus... Potter."

The name tingled pleasurably. He said it again. "Severus. Potter."

"Severus Potter."

Then, he cried. He didn't know why.

**AN:**

**I always thought it was perverse how Harry Potter named all his children after people he cared about, and Ginny less than friendly with half of them. I honestly don't think that canon Potter ever moved on.**


End file.
